The mess was 80% cleaned, but Samuel and Danny were 100% done.
Samuel wiped his forehead with a slightly dirty rag. "You know what hurts the most?"
"The bruises?" Danny guessed, picking up a cracked perfume bottle with two fingers.
"No," Samuel said, voice deadpan. "The fact that we're supernatural enforcers, and somehow this still turned into janitor duty."
Danny gave a solemn nod. "Truly... a glorious first mission."
Across from them, Agent Nick sat slouched in a plastic chair, phone tilted just enough to reflect cat videos and gym thirst traps. Occasionally, he'd chuckle or shake his head. Not once had he offered help.
"He's been scrolling for two hours," Samuel whispered.
"Correction," Danny said, glancing at the clock. "Two hours and twenty-eight minutes."
"Must be nice," Samuel muttered, adjusting a fallen display rack with a grunt.
With most of the shelves back up and the ground clear of demon residue and rogue noodles, the place was finally starting to resemble a functioning department store again if you squinted really hard and ignored the demon burn marks on the floor tiles.
Danny stepped back and surveyed their work. "You know... not bad. For a cleanup caused by a floor cleaner."
Samuel groaned. "You just had to bring that up."
Suddenly, Agent Nick stood up and stretched, one arm behind his head.
"Alright," he said. "Time for your briefing."
The boys stared.
Agent Nick adjusted his throat and then he placed his hand behind his back, looking straight at the boys.
"Looking at the damage caused by you guys, it's estimated around RW2300. We will deduct it from your pay. Lesson number one: be responsible for your own mess. Since we run under the cover of a department store, we have two duties here. One: maintaining the X-Mart. Two: your responsibilities in the X-Division. Once we determine your level and understanding, we'll assign field missions accordingly. When the SIU or one of our allied press contacts report a case related to us, we verify it, and only then intervene. Now follow me. I'll introduce you to the necessary facilities."
"Excuse me, sir, I have a question!" Danny said. The moment he spoke, Agent Nick gave him a skeptical look.
"I don't remember giving you permission to ask. Follow me quietly."
They moved toward a hidden lift. Nick scanned his retina, unlocking the doors.
"Danny, I'm getting irritated with this fake Nick Fury," Samuel grumbled telepathically.
"Well, me too," Danny replied.
Nick introduced the briefing room, training facilities, case files archive, pantry, kitchen, dormitories, leisure room, and finally the evidence room.
"This is the evidence room. For the next week, your mission is to reorganize and cross-check important data with existing records. The last in-charge retired early due to... circumstances. No one's touched this in three years. Handle everything here with care. Many of these objects are cursed or demonic."
Suddenly, Hell's Order echoed in their minds: "Four memory fragments and multiple stranded demon souls detected within the vicinity."
"Hell's Order, is that enough to recover Maya?" Samuel asked.
"Chance of recovery: 75%."
Danny's eyes lit up. Samuel barely contained his excitement.
Nick, watching their reaction, blinked. "Why are they getting excited over janitorial work? These guys are weird."
"Let's head back to Agent Vick's office. He has your training schedule," Nick said.
Back at Vick's room, Agent Nick knocked. "Come in."
They entered. Agent Vick looked up.
"I've given them the basic tour. Assigned them to the evidence room."
Vick gave Nick a knowing look. That room had a reputation anyone assigned there eventually asked for reassignment or retired early due to overwhelming negative energy and continuous misfortune.
He turned to the boys. "Any questions?"
Samuel raised his hand.
"Go ahead," Vick said.
Samuel leaned forward with a mock-serious expression. "Sir, off topic for a moment. I need and advice from a wise man like you. Let's say there's a guy named Johnny. He owns a farmhouse and invites two guests, who happen to be hunters. But he forgets to tell them that a wild hyena roams freely on the property. The hunters arrive, see the hyena, and naturally try to capture or kill it, thinking it's a threat. Who's at fault?"
Agent Vick leaned in. His expression was proud due to Samuel calling him wise man "Well, obviously Johnny. He should've warned them."
Agent Nick's expression twitched. "Vick, wait "
Samuel didn't miss a beat. "Now Johnny hears the commotion and rushes out to help. In the chaos, both Johnny and one of the hunters get injured. A backup group Johnny had called arrives moments later. They see a wild hyena, two men collapsed and injured, and one man still standing confused and unsure what to do. They don't assess. They panic. They attack the last man standing, mistaking him as the aggressor. In the struggle, they crash into a priceless herbal pot. It shatters. Now who's responsible for the broken pot?"
Vick blinked. His eyes darted between the boys and Nick, the unspoken truth slowly crashing down like a wave he couldn't swim out of.
His lips parted, like he was about to speak then stopped.
The weight of the analogy, the guilt, the implications it was all there, bubbling just beneath his usually composed surface.
His fingers twitched slightly on the desk. He wanted to say something. He really did.
But for the first time in a long while, Agent Vick didn't know how to respond.
"What are you trying to prove?" Nick asked coldly, the posture snapping upright, voice sharpening like a knife drawn in a silent room.
Samuel's voice didn't falter. "Sir, if justice doesn't exist here if we're punished for something we didn't do then how can we believe we're on the right side? We joined hoping to protect people, to do something meaningful. But if the system's broken, if blame is assigned based on misunderstanding, then maybe we were better off in a jail cell for a crime of saying people from Demon."
Danny kept nudging Samuel telepathically."Samuel, I swear if we get arrested over a metaphor—I'm blaming you. Please stop, Mr.Trouble Maker!"
Samuel, still staring straight at Vick and Nick, answered calmly, "Hell no. I'm not taking the fall for RW2300. I'm saving up for a new iPhone."
While Samuel, Danny and Agent Nick and Vicks discussing this, outside of the Nick's Office room, Agent Rex the demon standing clutching his hand whispering and cursing to himself
"You calling me an animal. You filthy human. I'm gonna consume your soul very soon enough! I cant stand this Hell's Enforcers Stench from them! I wish the lord to take action soon enough! I hate this place!"
His red eyes gleamed with vengeance.
A darker play is brewing within the calm west land of Walaysia...
And the boys? They've just stepped into a land littered with unseen landmines, where danger wears a smile and secrets hide in plain sight.
To Be Continue.